Dinner
by Kichi Hisaki
Summary: Naruto makes the group dinner.  One week later Sakura notices the changes.  NaruSaku thing.  Pairing or friendship:  you decide.  Enjoy, and flames will be used to burn down my school.


Hey! This is Kichi Hisaki, working for the first time on a NaruSaku fanfic. Normally, I don't write this couple—normally, I write SasuNaru, because I am a Yaoi fangirl. A _rabid_ Yaoi fangil. But I was inspired—by what, I don't know—to write a NaruSaku. Even if people can't really tell if it's a pairing or a friendship fic.

I don't understand why so many people hate her. She's not a bad character. I admit that at first I just couldn't stand her in the first 32 episodes. But when she cut her hair and fought to keep the Oto ninja away from Sasuke and Naruto, I was like, "ZOMG! She is so amazing!" And then when she got super strong in the Huricane chronicles, I was like, "Try to call her a Mary Sue now, biotch!"

Yeah. So, here we are.

I appologize DEEPLY in advanced if I made Sasuke and Kakashi too out of character! So please, believe me, if they are, I didn't mean too!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto the anime or mange or character. If I did, he would be my slave, and my name would be on the anime show and on the books.

* * *

"Naruto… What is this?"

Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were seated together beside a large fire. They had a mission that involved them going outside of Konoha to complete (C rank, of course—just going to retrieve a package for someone in the village) and the team had decided to stop for the night. Since the country they were going to was a ways away, a cycle for chores was created—tonight, Sakura handled the tents, Sasuke got the firewood, and Naruto cooked the dinner.

Little did they know, dinner wasn't going to be the most appetizing looking thing in the whole world.

Naruto turned his gaze up to the rest of the team, the strange goop that he called stew bulging his cheeks out unattractively. He quickly swallowed his mouthful of goop and grinned at the rest of them, who were staring down at the stew like it was an alien that had just come out of their mother's womb instead of their little brother. "What 'cha mean? This is what I have at home sometimes—I can't always eat ramen, according to Iruka-sensei."

Sasuke looked down at his bowl again, and then set down in front him, scooting it away from him with his foot. "I'm not eating this."

Kakashi set his down as well, not exactly trusting the way his bowl of goop was bubbling. "No offense, Naruto."

Sakura stared at hers as well, then sighed. "I can't eat something like this. It's just not very… well… appetizing…" she said, putting hers on the ground next to hers. For a second, he stared at them, a flash of something unfamiliar in his eyes, then he grinned, squinting his eyes like he normally did.

"Oh, come on, guys! It's really good! It isn't bad. I promise," he said, digging into his bowl again.

Sakura, her hunger eating away at her mood, glared at him. "Naruto, I told you I wasn't going to eat it. It just doesn't look good." She scoffed. "I can't definitely say that you are able to keep all of your promises."

Naruto paused in his eating for a moment, turning to look at her. "Well… I'm promising you now that it's not that bad." He grinned again. "So just try it! If you honestly don't like it, then you can throw it away—or better yet, give it to me! I'll eat it."

Sakura gave him an unsure look. Then her stomach gave a loud growl, and she sighed. Picking up her bowl, she gulped down her fear and brought a spoonful of the strange goop up. She vaguely registered that Kakashi and Sasuke were leaning in, watching her intently. Slowly, she opened up her mouth… And took a bite.

She chewed thoughtfully for a moment, allowing the taste to slide across her tongue. It wasn't really that bad… She had to admit that even though it looked like it could eat her alive, it didn't have too bad of a taste. Swallowing her bite, she dipped her spoon back in and took another bite. Kakashi and Sasuke shared a glance, then began to carefully take small bites themselves.

Naruto watched them eat while serving himself a second bowl, making sure to keep his hair in front of his eyes.

None of the others realized that he was waiting for some sort of a, "Hey, it isn't half bad," or, "Sorry that I said all that stuff."

And because of that, he quietly ate the rest of his food, not bothering to lift his eyes to meet anyone else's.

* * *

It was two weeks later that the team had decided to settle down for a rest (this time on a different mission) and they were given the same task to do for the camp again—Sakura on setting up the tents, Sasuke the firewood, and Naruto the dinner.

Sakura, while setting up the boy's tent, watched Naruto bustle around the slowly growing fire. She noticed some small changes in the way that he cooked from the last time. Like how this time he didn't hum to himself; how this time he wasn't grinning as he carefully took a wiff of the stew; how this time he didn't mumble small complements to himself as he rushed to chop up some meats in small slices.

If she didn't know any better, she would say that Naruto didn't want to be cooking this time.

She remembered that last time he kept glancing over to her while she worked on the tents, saying things like, "Ne, Sakura-chan! You're going to love this! Don't worry, it isn't ramen." But this time he didn't glance back at her at all. To her, it was sort of… disturbing. In a way, she missed the glances. That's how she knew that the short blonde was acting normal.

But this… this was different.

She wondered what could have happened. Was it something she said? Or maybe Sasuke was bugging him more than usual. Or was it the mission? She couldn't say that it was the mission, though—if she remembered correctly, he was excited to get out of the village again.

Then as she glanced over to him again, she saw him wipe away at something that was slowly making it's way down his face.

Suddenly, the last dinner came back to her, hitting her full force in the face.

He was upset because he was making dinner again. And he didn't want to make dinner… because they never apologized… for him making them something that he enjoyed—wonderfully, happily enjoyed—making.

She felt horrible. She suddenly realized that it was a mistake for them not to say anything to him for the rest of the night. She suddenly realized that he put his whole heart into making them something other than ramen. She suddenly realized that they had successfully broken his big, warm, fluffy heart.

Sakura carefully set down her ropes and cloth, taking in a deep breath. If she didn't do something soon, she'd never forgive herself.

"Hey… Naruto?"

Naruto started, accidentally dropping his spoon into the stew. He cursed quietly, then pulled it out, quickly wiping at his eyes and turning around, a grin slapped onto his face. "Yeah? Do you need something, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura cringed inwardly as she noticed the red, puffy eyes. She took in another deep breath. "I… I just wanted to say… to say that I'm looking forward to dinner tonight," she finished, giving Naruto a small smile.

Naruto dropped his grin and stared at her, a small blush rising to his cheeks. "Oh… Thanks, Sakura-chan," he mumbled turning back to the stew.

She was glad to hear some humming as she turned back to setting the tents up again.

End.

* * *

Well, there you have it—a Naruto and Sakura... thing! Wee!

I hope that you guys enjoyed it as much Naruto enjoyed making the dinner at the end. I worked for a good hour on this thing, so I hope it was to your liking.

Now, if you wouldn't mind, would you stop by and read my fic, "Dreaming of Reality"? I am working on it as I speak now, and would really appreciate it if you guys would drop in an give a review or two. And a vote. So far, I'm taking votes on who Naruto should be paired with—yes, it has to be Naruto ( you can also put in any other pairings, I don't really care) because much later in the fic Naruto is going to need someone to love him. So vote for your fav pairings!

Well, if you take the time to read that fic, I would much appreciate it.

Anyways.

Love you.

Review.

Hearts.


End file.
